This invention relates to a ground contacting element for a vehicle, in particular of a motor vehicle.
It mainly relates to a vehicle ground-contacting element comprising two shell-shaped portions assembled together into at least one first and one second contact area so as to form a rigid hollow body. The contact areas thus formed are adapted so as to be able to offset the variations of size between the first and/or the second shell in order to guarantee the rigidity of the body thus formed.
EP 1593584 discloses a wheel hub, forming a vehicle ground contact element, consisting of two shells joined together so as to form a rigid hollow body. The assembly of these two shells is made by contact areas positioned around the periphery of each of these two shells. These contact areas are formed by a hanging edge of a first of the two shells crimped around an edge of the second shell. But this assembling method requires tight clearances at the connecting surface between the two shells, to prevent distortion of the first or second shell during the crimping operation.
A wheel hub has also been disclosed. The edge of the first shell is positioned directly in contact with the edge of the second shell; and a weld bead traverses the line of contact between these two shells. In order for the weld bead to rigidly retain these two shells together, it is necessary for the clearance along the line of contact between the two shells to be tight, requiring high dimensional restrictions during the stamping of each of these two shells.
Thus the two known embodiments always require the two shells to be produced by high precision manufacturing, increasing the cost and time of manufacturing such a rigid hollow body.